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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23388544">Why We Fight</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeeincluded/pseuds/coffeeincluded'>coffeeincluded</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ambiguous Route (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Character Study, Gen, Immediately after the timeskip, Mental Instability, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 15:35:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,257</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23388544</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeeincluded/pseuds/coffeeincluded</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Why do the students of the Garreg Mach Class of 1180 fight?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Those Who Drabble in the Dark - Guess the Author</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Why We Fight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for the Felannie Discord Server Guess The Author Challenge. Prompt was: The Reasons Why. </p><p>I think the author will be revealed in a few days. Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Edelgard fought because she lived in a world where the church stepped on Fodlan’s throat and the people thanked them for it. It was a world where nobles treated their children like glorified chattel and commoners as even less than that. How many people had suffered and died under those two iron grips, and how many more people would suffer and die before society completely collapsed under that rot lurking beneath? The church was not open to any kind of diplomacy or peaceful negotiation—the Archbishop had made that </span>
  <em>
    <span>abundantly</span>
  </em>
  <span> clear—and so the only option left was force. So force it would be; Edelgard would </span>
  <em>
    <span>make</span>
  </em>
  <span> a better future, no matter the cost. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hubert fought for Her Imperial Majesty, cutting a bloody path all for her sake. Yes duty played a role, as did his desire to restore the Vestra name. But really, it was devotion. Devotion to Lady Edelgard’s vision for a better and more equal world, belief that everything she endured would mean something, a vision for a world where people rose and fell on their own merits and nobody else would suffer as she and so many others did. Hubert no longer believed in the goddess, but he believed in her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ferdinand von Aegir fought because the injustices of the current regime could not continue. He had his classmates to thank for opening his eyes; he knew much of the nobility was shamefully narcissistic and corrupt, but to this extent? And yet revolution with neither discipline nor restraint would likely lead to little more than anarchy and chaos. If Edelgard wished to do away with the old order, then the new regime must be prepared for the burdens of governance. To usher in a more equitable age and train the next generation, this would be a worthy legacy for Ferdinand von Aegir indeed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bernadetta fought because she still had nightmares of that chair. She had learned from a young age that her destiny would be one of quiet submission to her designated husband until her body gave out. And then Edelgard and her classmates showed her that was wrong, what her father did to her was wrong, and that she was so much more. That she, and others like her, had voice and deserved to be heard. So Bernie would fight—even though she really, </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> didn’t want to—and be the big brave bear that she now knew she could be, so that nobody else would ever get tied to a chair again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dorothea fought because, frankly, both the nobles and the church could eat shit and die. The nobles feasted off the suffering of their charges, and the church just preached about their proper place in society instead of actually doing something to help. She could have died, and far too many people more deserving of life than her failed to survive the cruel Enbarr gutters. Edie was the only person who knew things had to change, had the power to make things change, and had a clear vision of a better future for Fodlan; for that Edie had Dorothea’s loyalty. She just hoped all this death and destruction would be worth it in the end. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Petra fought for Brigid. Edelgard had given her the choice of an alliance, which was more than Petra had ever expected as a glorified hostage. And then Edelgard had made a promise: Brigid’s cooperation and alliance now, in exchange for full independence after the war. She would have dismissed this as more Fodlanese lies, but Edelgard was also tired of those lies. And so Petra would stand alongside the best of Adrestia, and force them all to witness and acknowledge Brigid pride. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Caspar fought because he was a soldier—or, at least, that’s how it started. Okay, he wasn’t the smartest person around, and yes, parts of Edelgard’s manifesto went over his head, but he knew injustice when he saw it! And from what Edelgard and his classmates said, the church and a whole bunch of nobles were being all sorts of unjust! So heck yeah he’d fight, because if Caspar knew anything, it was that sometimes you needed to fight evil by beating the living snot out of it. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to hurt his friends in other classes too badly in the process. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Linhardt didn’t really want to fight. He hated fighting, he hated blood, he hated bloodshed and killing in general. What could possibly be worth the deaths of so many people, and all the effort Edelgard was putting in? But...if he didn’t join, then his classmates, his friends, would get injured or die. In the end, it wasn’t really like that was much of a choice. </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Dimitri was going to kill that monster, Edelgard, that </span>
  <em>
    <span>woman,</span>
  </em>
  <span> responsible for the massacre of his friends and family, for the slaughter of Duscur! He would tear off her head and impale it on his lance for the world to see! He would offer her blood and bone as absolution to the dead! He would fight and kill and take vengeance for the dead who could not! What other possible purpose did he have for breathing, for living, when they did not? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dedue fought because His Highness fought, simple as that. His life belonged to Dmitri since that terrible day when his village was murdered and he alone survived. There had to have been a reason; guiding Dimitri and helping him absolve the survivors of Duscur of blame was a good purpose for breathing. And if Edelgard was involved in the massacre? Well, she would have millions of lives to answer for. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix fought because someone needed to cage that fucking boar. That’s all it was now, a snuffling raging beast that didn’t even pretend to wear the skin of a man anymore. Why did anyone even pretend that there was still a Dimitri under there, a person for that howling animal to go back to? Why was </span>
  <em>
    <span>he</span>
  </em>
  <span> still here, fighting and maybe dying for a rabid beast? Because...Because, when Felix had a quiet moment and stared at the bottom of a too-tall mug of ale, he could admit to himself that as much as he despised the glorified death-worship that was Faerghus chivalry, he was as trapped by it as anyone else. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sylvain fought because what else could he do? The Empire was invading his home, and his friends were all fighting alongside him. This was the whole damn reason that the Gautiers worshipped their crests, so that he could pick up his Lance of Ruin and kill the enemy. So that’s what Sylvain would do. And hey, maybe if he died protecting his friends and for the good and glory of Faerghus, he’d finally do something worthwhile in his goddess-forsaken life.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ingrid fought because it was her duty as a knight of Faerghus. Chivalry and honor were her highest calling, not a domestic life as a trophy Crest-bearing wife! How dare the Empire invade her nation, conquer her homeland? She would take Luin in hand and fight for her kingdom to her dying breath. That was a life and death worthy of a true knight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mercedes fought because Faerghus was her home, and the Church saved her and her mother when nobody else would. Edelgard railed about the corruption of the Church, but that wasn’t what she and so many others had experienced. Mercedes felt for Edelgard, truly, that the emperor had suffered so badly she believed the Church was beyond saving, but there had to be a more reasonable path. And...Dimitri was suffering too, had been suffering for a long time, and so were the rest of the Lions. What kind of priestess, what kind of person would she be, if she didn’t give everything she had to help them, help </span>
  <em>
    <span>him? </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Annette fought because her uncle had to bow to Cornelia and she knew what would happen to Dominic lands if he didn’t! Even if Dimitri had become...like that...he was still the prince, and the Empire shouldn’t be invading and taking over her homeland anyway. So she’d fight for her nation, and just as importantly, for the sake of her friends. Mercedes was running herself ragged trying to take care of everyone, and she needed someone to take care of her. But her classmates, her old friends...oh goddess, why did this have to happen? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ashe fought for his home. He fought because he always wanted to be a knight of Faerghus, and this was what a knight of Faerghus did: fought to the bitter end for the sake of their home. Even if Edelgard made some good points about the Church...No. Why couldn’t there be another way, why couldn’t they have worked something out? This was his honor and duty and dream, but he didn’t want to do this! </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Claude fought because you only sat at the table if you played in the game. Khalid had miscalculated when he first arrived in Fodlan all those years ago; he knew the place was backwards and secretive but didn’t realize until it was too late just how much the whole damn continent was a xenophobic </span>
  <em>
    <span>pit</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Some days Khalid wondered if he should just wash his hands of Fodlan, fly back over the Throat, and let the whole miserable place collapse in on itself. But just like every other place in the world there were good people here, and people who were trying to be better, trying to reach out to him, trying to be more than what they were raised to be. Claude (Khalid, try as he might they were one and the same) couldn’t just leave them, not if he wanted to be more as well.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hilda fought for Claude’s sake. Okay, yeah, she wanted to defend her home and her family and all that stuff but, like, that wasn’t why she followed </span>
  <em>
    <span>Claude</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Claude had opened her eyes. Claude had helped her realize what was wrong with the lessons she learned, lessons unknowingly taught by her family, the Alliance, even all of Fodlan. She followed him because it was the only way she knew how to atone for the sins of her fathers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lysithea fought because of what the empire took from her. They worked with those masked monsters and stole away her health, her family, her future, </span>
  <em>
    <span>everything</span>
  </em>
  <span>. And now they wanted to invade and finish the job? Lysithea wanted time more than anything else, which was a foolishly naive hope. But...if she couldn’t get time, then she could get revenge, and she could make sure that nobody else suffered like she and her family did ever again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Marianne fought for the sake of her friends. She used to be indifferent to death, even welcomed the relief of oblivion. But that had worn away, in part due to friends who cared about her, reminded her to take her herbs, sat with her when she fell down and helped her get to her feet again. For the first time in her life, she wanted to see what would happen next. And if she wanted to see tomorrow, and have her friends see tomorrow with her, then she had to fight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Raphael fought for his friends and family. This was why he joined the academy in the first place, so he could protect and provide for his little sis! Sure he thought it would be more defending the borders and protecting traders from monster attacks than fighting in a war, but that’s what a knight did, right? He’d use his muscles to defend the innocent and his home! Only...he really, really wished he didn’t have to fight his friends and classmates in the process. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ignatz fought for the sake of the alliance, and his fellow classmates. In the end, he was glad to have attended the academy. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have learned to fight, or seen this part of Fodlan, or make such wonderful friends. And now, one way or another, the world was about to change. Ignatz needed to fight—needed to stay alive—to witness the fall of the old world and the rise of the new firsthand, and depict it for future generations to see. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lorenz fought because it was his duty as a Gloucester. It was his duty to lead his troops into battle, to lead the vanguard to death or glory. Whether or not he wanted to didn’t play a role; it never had. A noble’s power came with responsibilities: the surrender of one’s personal desires for the greater good. So even if he...Never mind. This was his duty as a Gloucester. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leonie fought because, well, screw the Empire! First they side with those bastards who killed Jeralt, then they try and invade her home? Not gonna happen, not on her watch. Her village had given so much to her for her one opportunity at the Officer’s Academy, and that had given her the connections and tools to fight and win this thing. She needed to pay them back; she wasn’t about to let them down. </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Byleth fought for their students. They never would have thought, back then, that they would have grown to care for their charges so deeply. They never would have thought they would stand at the center of it all. But here they were, five years on, and they would do anything to keep them alive and well and all their dreams realized—and so would Sothis, were she still here. Now, they had something to believe in. </span><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hope you all enjoyed.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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